By Lee-Yandra Paulsen
The Earthchild Project, in collaboration with Urban Harvest, hosted a planting day for the garden at Ntwasahlobo Primary School on Thursday. Earthchild Project founder and director, Janna Kretzmar, provided more insight into the initiative.
“Earthchild is a non-profit organization based in Cape Town, now in our 18th year. We aim to bring a different approach to education in mainstream schools, supporting children to reach their true potential by providing life skills, environmental education, and leadership in a unique way,” stated Kretzmar.
She explained Earthchild’s hands-on approach to environmental education: “Our method is to really get children’s hands in the soil. By experiencing nature directly, they fall in love with it and are inspired to protect the natural world. Our dream has been to establish large organic food gardens at all the schools we work with, and this is now happening at one of our schools in Khayelitsha. After months of preparation, we are planting a big food garden.”
The Earthchild Project operates at eight schools: four in Khayelitsha and four in Lavender Hill. According to Kretzmar, this is their second food garden, with a vision to establish similar gardens at all eight schools.
The first food garden was initiated at Levana Primary School in Lavender Hill. The produce harvested from this garden directly contributes to meals that sustain 1,000 children daily, highlighting the significant impact of these projects on the community.
VOC News
Photo: Pixabay
